Door latch



1927' w. D. FERRIS noon 1.1mm

Filed March 26. 1926 ZMMZIZL/n .Dflarn s I Patented Aug. 9, 1927.

WILLIAM D/FERRIS, OF STERLING, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNQR TQ FRAJQTZMANUEACTHRr ING 00., OF STERLING, ILLINOIS, A CORPOBATION OFILLINQIS.

noon. LATCHL.

Application fileq jllarch 26,.1926. Serial in. euro.

This invention relates to door latches of that kindin which the door is provided at each side with a handle, and in which move- 'ment of the handle, when it is grasped to pull or push the door open, is operative to automatically unlatch the door, so that the door is unlatched and opened by one and the same handle, without the necessity of using the thumb piece ordinarily provided for lifting the latch.

This invention is in the nature of an improvement on the construction shown and described and claimed in application No. 84,316, filed January 28, 1926.

Generally stated, the object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved construction whereby the latch is lifted by upward movement of the handle at either side of the door, when the handle is grasped to either pull or push the door open.

It is also an object to provide certain details and features of construction, and combinations tending to increase the general eliiciency and the desirability of a door latch Y of this particular character.

To these and other useful ends, the invention consists in the matters hereinafter set forth and claimed, and shown in the accompanyingdrawings, in which,-

V Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a doorlatch embodying the principles of the invention, showing adjacent portions of the door and the door frame. V

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on line 22 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on {line 33 in Fig. 2.

Figs. 4. and are detail views of the plates which are secured to the door and the door frame to co-operate with the latch bar.

As thus illustrated, the invention comprises a latch bar 1, which is pivoted-at 2 on the bracket plate 3, the latter being secured by screws 4 to one side of the door. This latch bar is adapted to strike the bevel 5 of the strike piece 6, and to then drop into thenotch 7 of said'strike piece, which latter is secured by screws to the door frame 8, or to a stationary portion of the building. Aplate 9 is secured to the edge of the door, and is provided with a guide slot 10- for said latch bar. These plates have holes 11 and 12 to receive a padlock, so that the door can be locked in closed position.

' The mechanism for lifting the latch bar comprises a handle '12," which is formed at its upper end with a shoulder 13 to engage the lower edge of the latchbar. The lower end of said handle is provided with a vertical slot 14, and a screw 15 is inserted through this slotand through the guide plate 16, which covers the lower end portion of the handle, whereby the handle may be moved up and down on the door. A handle 17 is rovided at the other side of the door, and t e two handles are connected together by a screw or bolt 18, or by any suitable means, and the lower end of the handle 17 is held by a guide plate 19 and a screw 20 extending through a slot in the handle .17, whereby the lower ends of the two handles are alike, and both handles are slidable up and downon the door. Plates 21 and 22 are secured to opposite sides of the door, these, plates having slots in which the screw or bolt 7 18 is movable up'and down.

WVith this arrangement, either handle can be grasped to open the door, and by slightly 7 raising the handle the latch bar is lifted out of engagement with the notch 7, thereby to unlatch the door 23,-0n which the handles and latch bar are mounted. Thus one and the same handle is sufficient to open or close the door and to lift the latch bar, so that the necessity of using the ordinary thumb piece to lift the latch is entirely obviated, the two handles alone being sufficient for the purose.

Without disclaiming anything and without prejudice to any novelty disclosed, what I claim as my invention is:

1. A latch-mechanism comprising a latch door, and means operated by said upward movement of the handle to automatically lift the latch when the door is opened, said bar being freely movable up and down in-- dependently of said handle, when the bar engages said-strike piece.

2. A structure as specifiedv in claim 1, in

combination with another handle movable up and down on the other side of the door,

.bar, a strike piece for engaging said latch the two handles being connected together immediately below said means for lifting the latch.

3. A structure as specified in claim 1, said handle being provided with a vertically disposed slot at its lower end, and having a screw extending through said slot, providing a vertically sliding connection between the door and the lower end of the handle.

4. A structure as specified in claim 1, said handle being held against movement toward oraway from the door, so that the handle is only movable in a plane parallel With the door, and means on the upper end of the handle to engage said bar.

5. A structure as specified in claim 1, and another handle at the other side of the door, similarly mounted to slide up and down on the door, the door having a hole therein,

and'means extending through saidhole to connect the two handles together, Whereb the lifting of one handle will lift the other. 7

WILLIAM D. FERRIS. 

